Find out how to cite websites in research papers

There are many types of sources; the method of citing each type of sources is different. In the modern world, one of the most frequently used sources is the internet. But, there are many students who are not aware of how to cite websites in research papers. An inappropriate citation is as good as an absent one. Hence, it is necessary to figure out the right way of citing web sources, or electronic sources, if you are using one for your research paper.

Citing web or electronic sources in academic assignments

As long as you are aware of the risk of falling prey to unreliable sources, internet can be your best friend when it comes to research paper writing. You must also figure out how to cite a website in a research paper as per the rules of the documentation style you are using. The most commonly used academic documentation styles are the MLA style, the APA style and the Chicago style. Each of these styles has a different way of formatting the bibliography section and the contents. Let us find out how to cite websites in research papers documented in each of these styles.

• The MLA style: An MLA style web citation would appear as: “the author’s name. “The title of the webpage”. The name of the website. The date of publishing. Publisher. date of reference. < url > ” . The website title must be in italics. The author’s name must be reversed and the two parts separated by a comma. The date format is DD month YYYY.

• The APA style: In APA style, web sources must be formatted as “The author’s name. (date of publishing). Webpage title. In website title. Retrieved date, from url.” The website title should be preceded by ‘In’, the date of reference by ‘retrieved’ and the url by ‘from’. Italicize the website title. The date format is ‘month DD, YYYY’. The surname of the author should be typed in full but only the first letter of the first name should be given. The two parts of the names should be separated by a comma.

• The Chicago style: The Chicago style electronic citation should be formatted as: “The author’s name. webpage title. Website title. url. (accessed date).” It is the simplest of all the three types of citations and requires only lesser pieces of information than the other two. The author’s name, in Chicago style also, should be reversed. The date on which you accessed the website must be preceded by the word ‘accessed’. The format for date is month DD, YYYY.

The importance of citing sources in research papers

Web not only offers many options of sources but also easy accessibility to them. Information on the web is easy to find and it saves quite a lot of time while writing research papers. But, it is necessary to cite all the sources used for research, in a research paper, irrespective of the type of source or information borrowed. If you are still not sure of how to cite a website in a research paper or need any further research paper help, let us know. We offer expert guidance to students of all subjects and levels and also provide professional research paper writing service to those who are looking for it. There are some good research paper examples listed on our website which you may use for reference.